According to the latest data analysis from the 2019 American Community Survey, the average median age of an owner-occupied home is now 39 years old. In 2005, the median age was 31 years. Clearly, the U.S. owner-occupied housing stock is aging gradually.
News in end use
Canadian Residential Building Permits Decline Slightly in April from March’s Record Setting Level
According to Statistics Canada (StatsCan), the total value of building permits in April 2021 were down -0.5% to $11.1 billion, following a record setting March. The minor setback reflects declines in the residential sector in British Columbia and Quebec, which outweighed national gains in the non-residential sector.
Challenger Reports Job Cuts Increased Modestly Month-Over-Month in May 2021
According to the latest released (6-3-21), Job-Cut Report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas (CG&C), Inc — a global outplacement and business and executive coaching firm — U.S. based companies announced planned job cuts announced by U.S.-based employers rose 7% in May to 24,586 from the 22,913 announced in April. Last month’s total is down 93.8% from May 2020, when employers announced 397,016 cuts.
ADP Reports Private Sector Employment Increased Month-Over-Month by 978,000 Jobs in May
According to the April ADP® National Employment Report™, nonfarm private sector employment private sector employment increased by 978,00 jobs from April to May. The ADP National Employment Report is produced by the ADP Research Institute® in collaboration with Moody’s Analytics.
U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Declined Further in the Week Ending May 29, 2021
The U.S. Department of Labor is reporting that an additional 385,000 Americans made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on Saturday, May 29, 2021 — a decrease of 20,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level. This is the lowest level for this average of initial claims since March 14, 2020, when it was 256,000.
Shares of Mortgages in Forbearance Decline for Thirteenth Week in a Row in Week Ending May 23, 2021
The latest Mortgage Banker Association’s (MBA) Forbearance and Call Survey reports that the total number of loans now in forbearance decreased by 1 basis point from 4.19% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior week to 4.18% as of May 23, 2021. According to MBA’s estimate, 2.1 million homeowners are in forbearance plans.
Private Residential Construction Increases in April
Further analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Construction Spending data for April, provided by the National Association of Home Builders, reports that total private residential construction spending rose 1.0% in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $729.2 billion. Total private residential construction spending was 29.7% higher than a year ago.
Mortgage Applications Decline for Second Consecutive Week During Week Ending May 28, 2021
According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Application Survey for the week ending May 28, 2021, the Market Composite Index (a measure of mortgage loan application volume) decreased -4.0% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased -5% compared with the previous week.
U.S. Home Prices Post Third Consecutive Month of Double-Digit Growth in April
CoreLogic®, a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider, today (6-1-21) release their CoreLogic Home Price Index (HPI™) and HPI Forecast™ for April 2021.
Led by Construction Sector Increases Canada’s Real Gross Domestic Product Increased 1.1% in March
Statistics Canada (StatCan) is reporting, in preliminary estimates, that real gross domestic product (GDP) increased 1.1% in March, following a 0.4% increase in February.